__ORGAN DONATIONs SAVE LIVES___

this golf event has come and gone.
They raised alot of good money to go to a great cause and that will help in saving many lives.

Theres a new TV show coming on this season - and its storyline revolves all around Transplants.

Its on CBS and it is called " 3 Rivers " .
Look for it ,



and dont forget about the idea of becoming an organ donor- you can save someones life today . whens the last time you could say that to someone ?

Im going for my evealuation in 4 weeks .

Heres a small update on my status from the doctors
and from the Transplant Team at Columbia / Presbyterian:

-- The paperwork has all been filed through the proper channels.
It is now up to the next step, where my living donors ( My family members ) must travel into Upper Manhattan to take a series of blood viles for cross matching and blood type charecterizations .

-- It is imperative that I get the paperworks for all of the Medicare and Medicaid taken care of .
Any dialysis patient in the USA is automatically eligible for Medicare after I believe 90 days on dialysis treatments. ( I've been on since my kidneys failed in August 2009 )
( Part A )
It is up to me to pay the small premiums out of pocket for the ( Part B ) portion of the Medicare, this wll insure that not only I am covered, but also my donor, if any problems should arise at the time of the operations or later on down the road, we would all be covered without limits.

One can't even imagine , the costs of procedures such as a renal transplant , are very expensive .


-- My kindeys failed in August of this past summer. I was all set to go to PJ in Chicago, but needless to say all travel plans were cancelled and I was hospitalized for 2 simultaneous surgical procedures.
==The 1st was a standard AV Fistula which was created in my right forearm . This is the joining of your very own Artery and Vein, to increase bloodflow in this specific area. They actually use your own vasculature, so there are no foreign bodies inside of your arm- its using the vessels you are born with - just reattaching them together under microsurgery , at the fistula location.( in my case the aforementioned Right Forearm )I have a tiny zipper scar on my left wrist where they did the procedure.
Fistulas normally take a few months to mature so that they can be used safely .
40 % of all fistulas later need some " help" in maturing .
By "help" they do what we commonly know as " Angioplasty " in the vessel in the fistula.
They insert small balloons that expand the vessel slightly to open it up for increased pressure and blood flow .

After having 2 of these fistulograms to aide in my fistula maturation , I have finally received word that my fistula is ready to use !
So now, they can remove the Tessio Catheter in my right chest .
This is enough to make me scream with joy !

== The Tessio catheter was the 2nd Surgical Procedure I had when initially hospitalized in August.
Its basically a catheter inserted into my right chest wall, and this is the temporary access thru which all of my Dialysis treatments have been carried through up until this point in time ( for the past 3 months )
This is probably the most inconvenient thing to have to deal with on Dialysis Treatments.
It prevents you from showering .
It keeps you from swimming in the ocean or in a pool during the summer months .
( Ironically enough I live 40 yards off of The Atlantic Ocean here in NYC )
If the catheter gets wet, it can easily become infected , and then there are further threats such as Sepsis or Endocarditis which can eventually kill you , so its paramount to keep the catheter in good shape.
It is , quite literally , your lifeline .


Now that my fistula has matured, we can start the process of removing my Tessio catheter.
Now, just a few more weeks and I should hear back concerning the blood matches with my living donors .

Then, shortly after that , we will begin the next step and a full out Pancreas transplant which wi;ll hopefully cure me of my insulin dependant diabetes , which I have dealt with since I was a little boy of 5 years of age .
How my life will be greatly impacted by all of these procedures.
I'll keep you all updated.

haffajappa wrote:

I've been meaning to put my name on the organ donor registry.
I'm surprised my mom never put me on it, our family are all supporters of organ donation, as is my boyfriends family (almost all of whom are nurses).

Sorry to hear about your situation bathgate :(
Hopefully some luck comes your way soon!

thanks to you
and everyone else that forwarded their best wishes to me.

AllIAm wrote:

bump for you! my favorite thing to support! DONATE LIFE PEOPLE!!!

amen !




National Donor Info

Access to U.S. Government Information
on Organ and Tissue Donation and Transplantation

http://www.organdonor.gov/



Becoming a Donor :
http://www.organdonor.gov/donor/index.htm



Living Bank. org :

The Living Bank is a private, non-profit organization dedicated
to the enhancement of organ and tissue donation. Our mission
is to educate the community about the urgent need for donors
so no one dies or suffers for lack of donation; honor donors
and support organ recipients, living donors and their families.

http://www.livingbank.org/




United Network for Organ Sharing ( UNOS )

http://www.unos.org/


Scientific Registry Of Transplant Recipients


http://www.ustransplant.org/

haffajappa wrote:

I know it doesn't help you, bathgate, but for the sake of the cause here is information for anyone in Canada:

Provincial/Territory info on how to become an organ donor
BC Organ Donor Registry

awesome.
im sorry i neglected our brotheren to the North

AllIAm wrote:

so just as soon as i posted in here a few days ago my husband received his kidney transplant from an anonymous donor!!!!! they lost their life but a part of them lives on in him! always be an organ donor. my husband is doing wonderful! they are shocked at how well he's doing. i love him more than words can say. now good luck to you bathgate!!!

thats beautiful.

god bless you and your husband,
and the soul who donated to your husband, and their family .


awesome news.

finally got my tessio catheter removed today.
ive had this in my right chest since early august.
i feel liberated .
i will be celebrating with my closest friends
tomorrow night - we are seeing Roger Daltrey .


( these are not my actual Radiographs )